By Patti Cullen, CAE
Note: We have been working with committee chairs and leadership in both the House and Senate to try to amend out some of the dramatic cuts noted below before the omnibus HHS bills are passed out of committee this week. At press time we do not yet know if our efforts have been successful; it is possible, however, that a small portion of the cuts noted below will no longer be included in the bill by the March 25 deadline.
This week the chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, Senator David Hann (R-Eden Prairie), released his omnibus health and human services (HHS) budget bill for Fiscal Years 2012-2013 (which begins on July 1, 2011). Similar to the House version, there are significant cuts to older adult services, reflecting the committee’s significant budget reduction target of $1.6 billion.
The following is a summary of the provisions we think are of greatest importance to members. Some of these items are also in the Governor’s budget and/or the House HHS omnibus bill; however, at first review the Senate seems to have more obvious cuts to nursing homes and the elderly waiver program than the House bill. A side-by-side-by-side comparison is being developed yet this week; we intend to send facility-specific breakdowns of the impact as soon as we are able to reconcile the money and the language (right now there are discrepancies that we assume will be reconciled by author's amendments).
|
Provision |
Estimated Savings for 2012-13 Biennium |
|
Low Needs Case Mix reduction of 25% of the operating payment rates for categories PA1 and BC1 |
($17,367,000) |
|
Modify non-base rate payments to nursing facilities. This includes:
|
($27,758,000) |
|
Phase out of Rate Equalization—beginning October 1, 2011 allows for 2% increase per year up to October 1, 2015, when there is no restriction on rates. |
No state budget impact |
|
The case mix cap for Elderly Waiver is separated from nursing facility rates, which means in the future when nursing facility rates increase (whether operating or property rates), the elderly waiver rate will not. |
($1,239,000) |
|
EW funding changes—The budget caps for Elderly Waiver Case Mix L individuals will be cut from $2272/month to $1750/month. Service rate limits will also be reduced. While the needs of these individuals will not have changed, providers will be expected to meet those needs with significantly fewer resources. Establishes mechanism of how to convert the per diem nursing facility rate into a monthly budget—savings are then realized by reducing the EW monthly budget. |
($36,073,000) |
|
Limit Disabilities Waiver Growth—no new allocation. |
($58,534,000) |
|
Reduce Certain Congregate Living rates for CADI, DD, TBI waiver programs—reduction on average is 10% |
($12,710,000) |
|
Aging Grants for Community Service/Service Development—grants are continued at the reduced level. |
($7,200,000) |
Patti Cullen, CAE
952.851.2487
pcullen@careproviders.org
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